02: Return to Lhoam
Summary Upon resurfacing into the Wilds, the party investigates the remains of the kobold camp to find that their captives escaped while they were in Bartak’s Arkspring. They quickly head off back to Lhoam to reclaim their belongings, but shortly after finding the main road, the party is sneak-attacked by an imp named Krim and three kalkes. During a drawn-out encounter, Krim proves himself a difficult foe to damage, but when he turns tail and flees through the forest in the form of a crow, Tira snipes him for the takedown. Emboldened by their timely kill, Bran and Tira execute a high-five the likes of which the realm has never seen, and the two remaining kalkes give themselves up. The party learns that the kalkes were hired by Krim to help him collect the ark casks from the kobolds, but all else they knew was that Krim planned to take the ark back to the city of Samsara and sell it. Feeling merciful, the gang decides to take the pair of kalkes back to Lhoam PD. Return to Lhoam Back in Lhoam, things are a little different than the travelers left them--people are carousing in the streets, and even the air itself feels full with ark--and Constable Tayle quickly brings the gang into the squad room to chat. After they fill him in, and Officer Landon processes the kalkes, Tayle gives the party some places to get more information: an antique shop run by a man named Crow, and a repair workshop by the docks. Grateful, the Constable returns the party’s belongings (with a little something extra), as well as giving Mahi an ornate letter written in Seaspeak, and passing on some information about a “stubby wolf” to Bran. The Antique Shop The party meets with a man who is decidedly less friendly than Tayle implied, but he kindly takes time out of his busy schedule to give them the rundown on the emerging ark trade and a quick D.A.R.E. speech. He also tells them about Pombo, a small-time drug dealer from Lhoam who’s made it big pushing ark in the Wetlands city of Samsara. According to Crow, he operates out of a casino called The Sabre. Yung Repairs Next, the party heads west for the Industrial District out by the docks. At Yung Repairs, they meet Kobe, the owner’s son, and Ben, an elf from an island in the southern sea. Ben tells the party how ark casks are made, and a little about religion in Balaayt. They learn that Sola Island is home to many who, like Ben, are “ark-touched”--able to channel their own ark--and that the people of the mainland don't seem to have the same attunement to ark or the old gods. After the party tries their hands (to varying success) at a prototype ark lock-box Ben is working on, he directs them to the library. Lhoam Public Library Junip leads the party to the library’s section on religion, tucked away in a dusty corner and sorely lacking for books, while Mahi absconds to the garden to read his letter in the kiddie pool out back. The party successfully finds an ancient book on the old gods, but its pages have suffered the effects of time, and it isn’t an easy read. Junip also tells the party that a mysterious cloaked figure with a heavy necklace was the last to check out a missing Ark book. When Mahi returns to find his new friends upstairs, the party asks him what he knows about the old gods and presses him on his origins. He doesn’t remember much, but says he went to his secret spot to think about Pearl, and the next thing he knew, he woke up a human. With shockingly little resistance, he also lets slip that he is the youngest prince of the Lanikai Kingdom, and that the note was from his father, King He’e, requesting that he take care of a problem in the Wetlands. At the End of the Day All roads apparently leading to Samsara, the party decides to head off for the lawless, seedy canal city after a good night’s rest. Quotes A WOLF, BUT STUBBIER: “You said you were looking for a dog, right? I saw a little--I don’t know what to call it. Like a little wolf, but with stubby legs--it was running around in Radio Square last night, but it ran off on the road to the northeast.” ''-Constable Tayle'' AT THE ANTIQUE SHOP: “So as you can guess, the issues are several: people who use ark that way are playing a dangerous game, and once you’re hooked, it’s got to come from somewhere, or someone. Best not to get involved, I’d think, but you don’t exactly look like a cerebral bunch.”''' “Sorry, I don’t know anything about religion. That “old god” shit--it’s all a pyramid scheme, if you ask me.”' “There’s a guy named Pombo. He was a small-time drug dealer not long ago, but I hear he’s started making a killing off of ark. He operates out of Samsara, in the Wetlands, but he has a lot of cronies skulking around in Lhoam lately, too. If you go looking for him, though, expect trouble--I don’t think he’s taking appointments.” ''-Crow ' SO HOW ABOUT THAT SECOND DATE?: ' “Ark casks? Well, as long as you aren’t selling them… The casing is cut from a type of crystal found in the north Highlands. It’s the only thing that’ll contain ark, at least that we know of. The rest just can’t be ark conductive. I don’t know much about how you channel it into the cask, since I’ve never seen one in person, but if you brought me one--Actually, on second thought, I’d better not...” '' “But there are some people that can manipulate it themselves--that’s being ark-touched. You’re the only people I’ve met on the mainland who are, aside from the shop owner and Kobe.” “On the island I’m from in the South Sea, a lot of people are like us. But here, nobody really seems to know anything at all about ark. There’s a shrine in north Lhoam, but I hardly see anyone there. Not that I’ve been in a while...” ''-Ben'' READING COMPREHENSION: "Lesbians, nice!" ''-Mujie'' A MANMAN, MAN: "The last thing I remember is like, going to my secret spot to think about Pearl... And then I woke up at the lagoon like this! I'm hideous..." ''-His Royal Highness Prince Mahi, Seventh Son of the Crown''